The purpose of this study was to understand how students, particularly marginalized and underrepresented students of color, perceive and experience alcohol-related events at a predominately white university. Reonda Washington, Agustina Marconi, Emma Jardas and I investigated: How do students of color perceive and experience alcohol at predominantly white universities? In what ways do student of color perceptions of alcohol differ from white students' perceptions? How and in what ways does the culture of alcohol affect the health and well-being of students of color at predominantly white universities? See more about the report on UHS’ website.
Significant summary findings
• Students of color reported higher rates of abstaining and nondrinking than white students.
• Students in both groups reported avoiding places on- and off-campus due to concerns about the alcohol use of others, students of color at 42% and white students at 31%.
• Both groups named fraternity and sorority housing and Langdon Street as the top two places they avoided.
• African American/Black students have considered leaving the University at three times the rate of white students.
• Students of color cited the racial climate as the number one reason, and white students cited academic reasons.
• Students of color are more likely to report struggling financially or that they have enough to get by but not much left over.
• White high-risk drinkers scored higher on the Diener Flourishing Scale than students of color in any drinker category and white students in the other drinker categories.
• White students report at higher rates that alcohol impacts their overall health and wellbeing than students of color.
• Approximately 62% of students of color experience microaggressions at UW-Madison, consistent with 2015 Color of Drinking results.
• Students of color reported witnessing and intervening microaggressions at higher rates than white students.
• Both groups report having to find alternative study spaces because of the alcohol culture (average 46%), and schedule group meetings around alcohol consumption (average 40%).
What is a microaggression?
For this study, microaggressions were defined as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults towards people of color (Sue et al, 2007).”
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